Top Science News

February 24, 2026

Top Headlines

50 Year Quest Ends with Creation of Silicon Aromatic Once Thought Impossible

Feb. 24, 2026 After nearly 50 years of failed attempts and scientific speculation, chemists at Saarland University have achieved what many thought might be impossible: creating a long-sought silicon-based aromatic ...

Alzheimer’s May Begin with a Silent Drop in Brain Blood Flow

Feb. 24, 2026 Subtle changes in brain blood flow and oxygen use are closely linked to hallmark signs of Alzheimer’s, including amyloid plaques and memory-related brain shrinkage. Simple, noninvasive scans may one day help spot risk earlier—by looking at the ...

Something Strange Is Happening in the Milky Way’s Magnetic Field

Feb. 24, 2026 Deep inside the Milky Way, an invisible force is quietly holding everything together — its magnetic field. Now, researchers have created one of the most detailed maps ever of this hidden structure, revealing surprising twists in how it flows ...

Can Solar Storms Trigger Earthquakes? Scientists Propose Surprising Link

Feb. 24, 2026 Scientists have proposed a surprising connection between solar flares and earthquakes. When solar activity disturbs the ionosphere, it may generate electric fields that penetrate fragile fracture zones in Earth’s crust. If a fault is already ...

Congo Basin Blackwater Lakes Are Releasing Ancient Carbon Into the Atmosphere

Feb. 24, 2026 Deep in the Congo Basin, vast peatlands quietly store enormous amounts of Earth’s carbon — but new research suggests this ancient vault may be leaking. Scientists studying Africa’s largest ...

190-million-year-old “Sword Dragon” Fossil Rewrites Ichthyosaur History

Feb. 24, 2026 A newly identified ichthyosaur from the UK’s Jurassic Coast is rewriting part of the prehistoric playbook. Nicknamed the “Sword Dragon of Dorset,” the three-meter-long marine reptile lived during a poorly understood window of evolution when ...

Scientists Engineer Bacteria to Eat Cancer Tumors from the Inside Out

Feb. 24, 2026 Researchers are engineering bacteria to invade tumors and consume them from the inside. Because tumor cores lack oxygen, they’re the perfect breeding ground for these microbes. The team added a genetic tweak that helps the bacteria survive longer ...

Scientists Create Ultra-low Loss Optical Device That Traps Light on a Chip

Feb. 24, 2026 CU Boulder researchers have designed microscopic “racetracks” that trap and amplify light with exceptional efficiency. By using smooth curves inspired by highway engineering, they reduced energy loss and kept light circulating longer inside the ...

Massive US Study Finds Higher Cancer Death Rates Near Nuclear Power Plants

Feb. 24, 2026 A sweeping nationwide study has found that U.S. counties located closer to operating nuclear power plants have higher cancer death rates than those farther away. Researchers analyzed data from every nuclear facility and all U.S. counties between ...

Space Lasers Reveal Oceans Rising Faster Than Ever

Feb. 24, 2026 A new 30-year analysis reveals that melting land ice is now the main force behind rising global sea levels. Researchers discovered that oceans rose about 90 millimeters since 1993, with most of the increase coming from added water mass rather than ...

Training Harder Could Be Rewiring Your Gut Bacteria

Feb. 23, 2026 Training harder may do more than build muscle—it could transform your gut. Researchers found that intense workouts change the balance of bacteria and important compounds in athletes’ digestive systems. When training loads dropped, diet quality ...

Scientists Reverse Muscle Aging in Mice and Discover a Surprising Catch

Feb. 23, 2026 A UCLA study in mice reveals that aging muscle stem cells accumulate a protein that slows repair but boosts survival. This protein, NDRG1, acts like a brake, preventing cells from activating quickly after injury. When researchers blocked it in older ...

Latest Headlines

updated 11:51am EST

A Hidden Force Beneath the Atlantic Ripped Open a 500 Kilometer Canyon

Feb. 23, 2026 Far beneath the Atlantic Ocean, about 1,000 kilometers off Portugal’s coast, lies a colossal underwater canyon system that dwarfs even the Grand Canyon. Known as the King’s Trough Complex, this ...

Schrödinger’s Color Theory Finally Completed After 100 Years

Feb. 23, 2026 A century after Erwin Schrödinger sketched out a bold vision for how we perceive color, scientists have finally filled in the missing pieces. A Los Alamos team used advanced geometry to show that ...

Scientists Create Universal Nasal Spray Vaccine That Protects Against COVID, Flu, and Pneumonia

Feb. 23, 2026 Scientists at Stanford Medicine have unveiled a bold new kind of “universal” vaccine that could one day protect against everything from COVID-19 ...

Why the Outer Solar System Is Filled With Giant Cosmic “snowmen”

Feb. 23, 2026 Far beyond Neptune, in the frozen depths of the Kuiper Belt, many ancient objects oddly resemble giant snowmen made of ice and rock. For years, scientists wondered how these delicate two-lobed shapes ...

Cleaner Wrasse Show Self Awareness in Stunning Mirror Experiments

Feb. 23, 2026 Cleaner wrasse have revealed a remarkable new side of fish intelligence. Marked with fake parasites, they used mirrors to inspect and remove the spots—far faster than seen in earlier tests. Even ...

Young Mars Volcano Hides a Powerful Magma Engine Beneath the Surface

Feb. 23, 2026 A Martian volcano once thought to be the result of a single eruption turns out to have a much more complex past. Orbital imaging and mineral data show it developed through multiple eruptive phases, ...

A Giant Blade-Crested Spinosaurus, the “hell Heron,” Discovered in the Sahara

Feb. 23, 2026 Deep in the heart of the Sahara, scientists have uncovered Spinosaurus mirabilis — a spectacular new predator crowned with a massive, ...

Triceratops Had a Giant Nose That May Have Cooled Its Massive Head

Feb. 22, 2026 Triceratops’ massive head may have been doing more than just showing off those famous horns. Using CT scans and 3D reconstructions of fossil skulls, researchers uncovered a surprisingly complex ...

Flea and Tick Treatments for Dogs and Cats May Be Harming Wildlife

Feb. 22, 2026 Flea and tick medications trusted by pet owners worldwide may have an unexpected environmental cost. Scientists found that active ingredients from isoxazoline treatments pass into pet feces, exposing ...

Frozen for 5,000 Years, This Ice Cave Bacterium Resists Modern Antibiotics

Feb. 21, 2026 Deep inside a Romanian ice cave, locked away in a 5,000-year-old layer of ice, scientists have uncovered a bacterium with a startling secret: it’s resistant to many modern antibiotics. Despite ...

Scientists May Have Found the Holy Grail of Quantum Computing

Feb. 21, 2026 Scientists may have spotted a long-sought triplet superconductor — a material that can transmit both electricity and electron spin with zero resistance. That ability could dramatically stabilize ...

Scientists Discover Why High Altitude Protects Against Diabetes

Feb. 21, 2026 Living at high altitude appears to protect against diabetes, and scientists have finally discovered the reason. When oxygen levels drop, red blood cells switch into a new metabolic mode and absorb ...

James Webb Space Telescope Captures Strange Magnetic Forces Warping Uranus

Feb. 21, 2026 For the first time, scientists have mapped Uranus’s upper atmosphere in three dimensions, tracking temperatures and charged particles up to 5,000 kilometers above the clouds. Webb’s sharp vision ...

NASA’s Hubble Spots Nearly Invisible “ghost Galaxy” Made of 99% Dark Matter

Feb. 21, 2026 Astronomers have uncovered one of the most mysterious galaxies ever found — a dim, ghostly object called CDG-2 that is almost entirely made of dark matter. Located 300 million light-years away in ...

Scientists Uncover Oxygen-Loving Ancestor of All Complex Life

Feb. 20, 2026 For decades, scientists have believed that complex life began when two very different microbes joined forces, eventually giving rise to plants, animals, and fungi. But one major puzzle remained: how ...

Atom-Sized Gates Could Transform DNA Sequencing and Neuromorphic Computing

Feb. 19, 2026 Scientists have taken a major step toward mimicking nature’s tiniest gateways by creating ultra-small pores that rival the dimensions of biological ion channels—just a few atoms wide. The ...

Scientists Reveal How Exercise Protects the Brain from Alzheimer’s

Feb. 20, 2026 Exercise may sharpen the mind by repairing the brain’s protective shield. Researchers found that physical activity prompts the liver to release an enzyme that removes a harmful protein causing the ...

Scientists Discover Gene That Could Save Bananas from Deadly Panama Disease

Feb. 19, 2026 A major breakthrough could help save the world’s bananas from a devastating disease. Scientists have discovered the exact genetic region in a wild banana that provides resistance to Fusarium wilt ...

Generative AI Analyzes Medical Data Faster Than Human Research Teams

Feb. 21, 2026 Researchers tested whether generative AI could handle complex medical datasets as well as human experts. In some cases, the AI matched or outperformed teams that had spent months building prediction ...

Air Pollution Linked to Higher Alzheimer’s Risk in 28 Million Older Americans

Feb. 20, 2026 Breathing polluted air may do more than harm your lungs — it could also increase your risk of Alzheimer’s disease. In a sweeping study of nearly 28 million older Americans, researchers found that ...

Ancient DNA Solves 5,500 Year Old Burial Mystery in Sweden

Feb. 19, 2026 Ancient DNA from a Stone Age burial site in Sweden shows that families 5,500 years ago were more complex than expected. Many individuals buried together were not immediate family, but second- or ...

The Nearsightedness Explosion May Be Fueled by Dim Indoor Light, Not Just Screens

Feb. 19, 2026 Myopia is skyrocketing around the world, often blamed on endless screen time — but new research suggests the real culprit may be something more subtle. Scientists at SUNY College of Optometry ...

The Moon Is Still Shrinking and It Could Trigger More Moonquakes

Feb. 18, 2026 Researchers have uncovered more than a thousand previously unknown tectonic ridges across the Moon’s dark plains, showing the Moon is still contracting and reshaping itself. These features are ...

New Map Reveals Where Lethal Scorpions Are Most Likely to Strike

Feb. 18, 2026 Scientists have developed a powerful new way to forecast where some of the world’s most dangerous scorpions are likely to be found. By combining fieldwork in Africa with advanced computer modeling, ...

Intermittent Fasting Fails to Beat Standard Dieting for Weight Loss

Feb. 18, 2026 Intermittent fasting has become one of the most talked-about weight loss trends in recent years, promising dramatic results with simple changes to when you eat. But a major Cochrane review suggests ...

Psychedelics May Work by Shutting Down Reality and Unlocking Memory

Feb. 15, 2026 Psychedelics can quiet the brain’s visual input system, pushing it to replace missing details with vivid fragments from memory. Scientists found that slow, rhythmic brain waves help shift ...

Couples Who Savor Happy Moments Together Have Stronger, Longer-Lasting Relationships

Feb. 14, 2026 Couples who intentionally slow down and soak in their happy moments together may be building a powerful shield for their relationship. Researchers at the University of Illinois found that partners ...

The Human Exposome Could Change Everything We Know About Disease

Feb. 14, 2026 Scientists are launching an ambitious global effort to map the “human exposome” — the lifelong mix of environmental and chemical exposures that drive most diseases. Backed by new partnerships ...

Rocky Planet Discovered in Outer Orbit Challenges Planet Formation Theory

Feb. 13, 2026 Astronomers have uncovered a distant planetary system that flips a long-standing rule of planet formation on its head. Around the small red dwarf star LHS 1903, scientists expected to find rocky ...

This New Blood Test Could Detect Cancer Before It Shows Up on Scans

Feb. 16, 2026 A new light-based sensor can spot incredibly tiny amounts of cancer biomarkers in blood, raising the possibility of earlier and simpler cancer detection. The technology merges DNA nanotechnology, ...